Pickup Height with Chrome Cover?

[Baker69]

I pretty much removed the bridge pickup cover not long after buying my 4003 back in 2012 but I recently felt the urge to re-fit it after seeing a few 4003's at various stores and realising how nice they do look with them on! I took mine off due to the pickup getting in the way as I felt this is the area where I play, but now I find I can actually play either side of the pickup without it being too much of an issue.

What I realise now is that with the cover on it's very hard to get any sort of measuring rule or gauge in there to check the distance from the pickup poles to underneath the string, does anyone have any suggestions as to the best way to do this?

[jps]

...What I realise now is that with the cover on it's very hard to get any sort of measuring rule or gauge in there to check the distance from the pickup poles to underneath the string, does anyone have any suggestions as to the best way to do this?

Use the Ears, Luke.

[lumgimfong]

Maybe get it initially set at a height so the volume is the same as the neck pup and then tweak so all strings have same output.

[Baker69]

Maybe get it initially set at a height so the volume is the same as the neck pup and then tweak so all strings have same output.

Yeah, I’d thought of that. At the moment I’m sure it’s not far off the recommended 5/32” but the bridge pickup is so much more powerful than the neck pickup I think it would need to be lowered quite a lot in order to balance the volumes of the 2 pickups? How would that affect the tone/overall sound if it was way too low?

[lumgimfong]

Moving farther away should just drop the volume.
Getting too close can cause lots of strange sounds.

My neck pup is all the way up. Sill have lotsa room between it and strings, so no sonic bad stuff there.
Try raising the neck pup all the way up.
If that sounds good then adjust the bridge to match output volume of the neck.

[berth]

You can raise the neck pickup some more by removing the things under the pickguard.

[wim]

Moving farther away should just drop the volume.
Getting too close can cause lots of strange sounds.

My neck pup is all the way up. Sill have lotsa room between it and strings, so no sonic bad stuff there.
Try raising the neck pup all the way up.
If that sounds good then adjust the bridge to match output volume of the neck.

Take the corner screws off, remove any spring present and you'll heave about 2 mm more to raise.
It does make a difference.
The adjustment screws will hold it together just fine

[Baker69]

Will give it a try and report back, thanks guys.

[Baker69]

After a fairly short period of playing time with the pickup cover re-instated I discovered it's not for me, initially I thought I could get by with playing either side of the cover but I just couldn't get used to it! So, the cover has been removed once again, and it immediately gives me my optimum playing position back again, which is right over the pickup.

I haven't set the pickup to its previous height but decided to try and set it a bit lower than I would normally have it, and by co-incidence the 2 pickups seem to be fairly well balanced. I think I'll try it at this setting for now as it sounds pretty good.

I'm a bit disappointed as I do like the chrome cover, but playability is much more important than the visual and I'll have to accept this. I do have a black surround infill fitted so it doesn't look too bad at all really.

Thanks for all your advice on this guys.

[jps]

You're just one of those (us) 4004 guys, but won't admit it. I never had a problem with the cover or a horseshoe pickup in my 4001/3 basses, which is interesting given my first Rick bass was a 4005WB, hence, no pickup/cover in that area.

[Isaac]

You're just one of those (us) 4004 guys, but won't admit it. I never had a problem with the cover or a horseshoe pickup in my 4001/3 basses, which is interesting given my first Rick bass was a 4005WB, hence, no pickup/cover in that area.

Maybe he is, I dunno. But I'm one of those hackers who feels the need for a place to rest my thumb while I play. On the 4001/3 instruments, the pick guard serves that purpose. On my 4004Cii, I tried, but ended up resting my thumb on the neck pickup until the gold started coming off. So I installed a thumbrest between the pickups (I figure that the two holes I drilled to screw it on probably cost me or my heirs about $100 each) and now I find the bass much easier to play, and to pluck where I want to. But on my 4001/3 basses, the pickup cover had to go.